Adding New Chicks to Flock of 3 Month Olds

[PunkRockChicken]

I'm a complete newbie to chickens and currently have 3 3 month old chickens ( 1 Silkie and 2 Frizzles) . I initially bought 5 when they were 4 weeks old , but lost two right away to what appeared to be respiratory issues. I later found out that the ranch I purchased them from is notorious for selling sick chicks and has some of the worst Yelp reviews ever. Needless to day, we've had a rough start and lessons were learned. I waited 2 months to ensure that the remaining 3 didn't show any signs of illness and now that I am comfortable that they are happy and healthy, I would like to add 2 more. The issue that I am now coming up against is that people really only seem to sell day old chicks or full grown hens, neither of which would work for my case ( and I've scoured endlessly) . I did however find out today that I can purchase 6 week old chicks from My Pet Chicken. My questions are 1) As it's been 2 months since I lost the two chicks, am I safe to add more chickens now? 2) If I were to purchase 6 week old hens, after I've quarantined them, is it safe to add them to my existing flock that is approximately 2 months older?

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Should be fine. Make sure the small ones have space to get away from the bigger ones, if they decide to be mean.

 

[aart]

1) As it's been 2 months since I lost the two chicks, am I safe to add more chickens now? 2) If I were to purchase 6 week old hens, after I've quarantined them, is it safe to add them to my existing flock that is approximately 2 months older?

Depends on your tolerance for risk. It's likely that the remaining bird are carrying the respiratory illness that killed their hatch mates...they won't show symptoms unless they are stressed, or they may never show symptoms, but it does put any new birds at risk.
Pretty hard to do a real quarantine in a backyard situation, but here some good info on how to do that and also some integration tips.

Consider biological/medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
BYC 'quarantine' search

Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

This used to be a better search, new format has reduced it's efficacy, but still:
Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading, BUT some info is outdated IMO:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[PunkRockChicken]

Should be fine. Make sure the small ones have space to get away from the bigger ones, if they decide to be mean.

 

[PunkRockChicken]

They have a pretty large run so that should help. Thanks for your response

 

[PunkRockChicken]

Depends on your tolerance for risk. It's likely that the remaining bird are carrying the respiratory illness that killed their hatch mates...they won't show symptoms unless they are stressed, or they may never show symptoms, but it does put any new birds at risk.
Pretty hard to do a real quarantine in a backyard situation, but here some good info on how to do that and also some integration tips.

Consider biological/medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
BYC 'quarantine' search

Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

This used to be a better search, new format has reduced it's efficacy, but still:
Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading, BUT some info is outdated IMO:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[PunkRockChicken]

Thank you so much for the great information and tips!!